ua_to_ord

In a perfectly competitive market (which major league baseball certainly is not), a business must earn a "required return" on capital. Anything less will cause some businesses in the industry to withdraw, leading to a decrease in supply, higher prices, and eventually an attainment of the required return by the industry. Anything more will attract new entrants and increase supply, thereby lowering prices and causing excess return to atrophy towards required return.

Et ceteris paribus, an increase in revenue from ancillary streams (and keeping required return constant) will, by competitive pressures, cause airfares to decrease.

Of course, airlines are not a perfectly competitive industry. But, on markets where there exists some nonstop competition, the extreme price sensitivity of consumers means that airlines are actually quite competitive.

aisleorwindow

Seems like a good move to me! ^

GRU the wanderer

It's a bad move. That's something that other carriers offer for free, and in any competitive market you'll see a lot of PAX choosing other airlines because of the better entertainment system (one of the few things around to make you forget you're gonna be in an uncomfortable seat for quite a few hours). Having a good IFE system and power for everyone (and for free) is a pretty good way of getting extra passengers for not a lot of money.

That being said, what I would REALLY like to see in Y and that could become a huge money-maker for UA is to have the option of ordering C-cabin food and booze when you book a flight. You could easily charge $60-$80 on long flights for it and I suspect make way more money on the long run than charging for the IFE.

notquiteaff

Unless they follow the example, as was the case with other fees.

Considering that there are still people packing into UA's 747 with no personal IFE whatsoever, which are operating on routes where other carriers offer better IFE options, I am not sure how valid this argument is. A lot of people believe that price is the deciding factor for a vast majority of travelers.

Wasn't there a thread recently about UA pilot-ing that on some routes? But seriously, you'd pay $60-$80? (I assume you'd want unlimited booze for that?)

RichardInSF

Obviously, it would be asking a lot for the IFE system to know if the person sitting at a given seat was an elite. Yeah, I know, a lot of European and Japanese train companies could have handled this, but still it would be significant extra processing and implementation effort. So I don't expect this feature to show up on the system unless, say, a free swipe card was given out at the gate to elite members.

Even if the current Y IFE is not competitive with other carriers, I still bet that almost no one would choose a carrier based on that. So it's probably very low risk for UA to give it a shot and see what extra revenues it brings in.

Pat89339

I can always find 15-30 I haven't seen, for a reason--I didn't want to waste my time watching it. That is exactly why I load up my iphone with entertainment I would like to see and connect it to the AVOD.

UnitedPR, is the ipod/iphone connection available in Y on the IPTE B777? What about power in the back?

channa

Or swiping one's Elite card. While not perfect, it would get the job done.

mahasamatman

I can always find lots that I've never seen, but there's a very good reason I've never seen them. I usually end up watching Mythbusters reruns.

frankmu

flyertalk has corrupted me since i have now memorized my mileage plus number.

IADtoWhere

If that's the only way to improve the product than I'd be fine with those fees. However it should be free in economy plus. That way you wouldn't be charging elites for it and IFE could be part of the E+ buyup offer.

bmvaughn

I guess that's alright for those folks that sit in Y.....

...now back to counting my SWU.

ORDnHKG

NH is already doing that on their long haul routes (8000 Yen), however it is limited to only 1 drink.

https://www.ana.co.jp/eng/int/promot...mealdrink.html

SFOtoORD

There will still be free IFE, just a more limited version:

UAPremierGuy

I like the idea previously posted about complimentary premium on-demand programming in E+, and charging for it in Y-. I have no problem with the additional charge at all, and it seems like a smart move to generate some ancillary revenue. ^

uastarflyer

Nonsense
Exactly. Even on routes that have direct CX and SQ competition UA is packed in the back. Fares tend to be less and all general fares earn miles. Price is paramount.

An elite waiver would be nice (not E+ waiver, but elite waiver). Otherwise, it's still reasonable.